History of Modern Art

1. Modern Art's Roots Lie in 19th-Century Shifts

Perspective, although known in antiquity, became for the Renaissance a means for creating paintings that were “imitations of nature”—visual illusions that made the spectator think he was looking at a man, a still life, or a landscape rather than at a canvas covered with paint.

Gradual metamorphosis. Modern art didn't emerge suddenly but evolved over a century, marked by shifts in patronage, the French Academy's role, art instruction, and the artist's societal position. Crucially, the artist's attitude toward artistic means and issues changed, impacting subject matter, expression, color, drawing, and the purpose of art.

Challenging Renaissance traditions. Neoclassicism opposed the Renaissance tradition of perspective recession, influencing 20th-century abstract art. David and his followers emphasized linear contours, arranged figures as a frieze, and closed off pictorial depth, creating a stage-like effect.

Dates of significance. Several dates mark milestones in modern art's development:

• 1784: David's Oath of the Horatii and the rise of neoclassicism.
• 1824: English landscapists' direct color studies at the Paris Salon.
• 1855: Courbet's separate pavilion for The Painter's Studio.
• 1863: Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe at the Salon des Refuses.

2. Courbet's Realism Asserted the Picture Plane

The Funeral documents the artist’s realization that his concern would be the reality of the world as he himself experienced it.

Father of modern realism. Gustave Courbet, considered the father of modern realism, navigated conflicts between classicism, erotic academicism, and atmospheric-romantic interpretations. He produced unsentimentalized records of contemporary life and made explicit statements about the realities that would dominate 20th-century painting.

Funeral at Ornans. This work is significant for its restatement of neoclassic delimitation of illusionistic depth and its reiteration of the picture plane. Courbet amplified the romantics' experiments with paint textures, using them as analogies of ordinary, everyday life.

Landscapes and seascapes. Courbet experimented with extreme close-ups of rocks and seascapes, creating the effect of photographic details. His rock landscapes combined observed reality with the elements and materials of his work: the picture plane and the massed texture of oil paint.

3. Manet Bridged Realism and Impressionism

The stupid phrase contained a remarkable truth: the trousers were not made of cloth; they were made of paint.

Scandalous subjects. Edouard Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe and Olympia challenged academic conventions by translating classical subjects into contemporary terms, depicting nudes in modern settings. This realism was seen as an affront to the idealized and virtuous portrayals of the past.

Emphasis on the picture plane. Manet moved further toward asserting the painting as a two-dimensional surface, abandoning Courbet's impasto and emphasizing color shapes. This approach, along with his sketchiness, angered critics who sensed a revolution against secure values.

Influence of Japanese art. Manet's Portrait of Emile Zola showcased his enthusiasm for Japanese art, reflecting the growing interest in Oriental aesthetics among European artists. He found formal qualities in Japanese art that aligned with his own artistic goals.

4. Impressionism Captured Ephemeral Light and Color

The point has been reached at which the painting ceases to be solely or even primarily an imitation of the elements of nature.

Super realism. Impressionism sought to represent specific aspects of the observed world more precisely than previous artists. It focused on the changing panorama of light and shadow, moving clouds, and reflections on water, capturing the ephemeral aspects of a moment.

Labeling the movement. The term "impressionism" was coined by Louis Leroy, a critic, after seeing Monet's Impression: Sunrise. The movement's name reflects its focus on capturing the fleeting impressions of light and color in nature.

Beyond imitation. Impressionism marked a moment when artists began to assert the identity of a painting as a created object with its own structure and laws, beyond its role as an imitation of nature. This shift contributed to the development of expressive color, cubism, and abstraction.

5. Post-Impressionism Explored Subjectivity and Form

The importance of Gauguin to modern art lies in large part in his conviction of the nature of a painting as something independent of nature, as a “synthesis” of remembered experiences rather than in immediate perceptual experience in the sense of the impressionists.

Diverse explorations. Post-impressionism encompassed the diverse experiments of Seurat, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cezanne, who each explored different aspects of art. These artists represent the immediate sources of many ideas and attitudes in 20th-century painting.

Gauguin's synthetism. Paul Gauguin sought a "synthesis" of remembered experiences rather than immediate perceptual experience. He used color and lines as forms of abstract expression, influenced by Oriental, pre-classical, and primitive art.

Van Gogh's intensity. Vincent van Gogh's passionate response to the world and his love for humanity led him to use brilliant, unmodulated color to express the innermost secrets of nature's processes. His paintings document supernatural experiences with meticulous brush strokes.

6. Architecture Transformed by Industry and Pioneers

The classic and romantic eclecticism of the nineteenth-century academic styles in architecture added nothing new to the history of architectural spatial experiment.

Industry and engineering. New architectural ideas emerged in the 19th century with industrialization and the use of iron, glass, and ceramic tile. Iron was used for structural elements, and roofs of iron and glass became popular in commercial galleries.

Domestic architecture. Philip Webb, Richard Norman Shaw, H. H. Richardson, and Stanford White made strides toward rational architecture in domestic designs. They harmonized stylistic borrowing with functional planning, anticipating 20th-century concepts.

The Chicago School. The Chicago school of architecture, led by Louis Sullivan, pioneered skyscraper construction. They emphasized verticality and expressed the metal-frame construction through the elimination of walls and the opening up of facades.

7. Rodin Revolutionized Sculpture Through Realism

Rodin’s achievement in the liberation of modern sculpture was one of degree rather than of kind.

Reaction against sentimental idealism. Auguste Rodin revolutionized sculpture by reacting against the sentimental idealism of academicians and returning to nature. He re-examined the art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, particularly Donatello and Michelangelo.

Exploration of space and movement. Rodin explored the elements of sculpture—space, mass, volume, line, texture, light, and movement—through the human figure. He studied models in constant motion, capturing every gesture and transitory change of pose.

The Gates of Hell. This unfinished masterpiece is a collection of forms and images that Rodin developed and adapted to other uses. The turbulence of the subjects inspired him to explore expressionist violence, bending and twisting the human figure to the limits of endurance.

8. Symbolism and Synthetism Sought Deeper Meaning

He constantly used for painting the analogy of music, of color harmonies, of color and lines as forms of abstract expression.

New content and synthesis. The end of the 19th century saw a search for new content and principles of synthesis in art. Courbet tied his reality of subject to the reality of his medium, while impressionists diminished the illusion of tangible objects.

Gauguin's synthetism. Paul Gauguin sought a "synthesis of form and color" derived from remembered experiences rather than immediate perception. He used color harmonies and lines as forms of abstract expression, influenced by Oriental, pre-classical, and primitive art.

Redon's dream world. Odilon Redon, a painter of dreams, created a world from amorphous, flowing color. He found subjects in nature, transformed into beautiful or monstrous fantasies, and translated symbolist poetry into visual experiences.

9. Fauvism Unleashed Expressive Color

I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green.

Arbitrary color. Fauvism marked the final liberation of color, using it independently of natural appearance to build new pictorial values. The fauves used violent color squeezed directly from the tube, not to describe objects but to create abstract color shapes and lines.

Influence of Gauguin and Seurat. The fauves built on the color organization of Gauguin and Seurat, combining it with their own linear rhythms. They sought to create an expressive end in itself, not simply to describe the natural world.

Key figures. Henri Matisse was the leader of the fauves, with other members including Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Rouault, Albert Marquet, Henri Manguin, Kees van Dongen, and Othon Friesz.

10. Cubism Fragmented and Reconstructed Reality

When he spoke of “the cone, the cylinder, and the sphere” he was not thinking of these geometric shapes as the end result, the final abstraction into which he wanted to translate the landscape or the still life.

Geometric forms. Cubism, pioneered by Picasso and Braque, fragmented and reconstructed reality using geometric shapes. It challenged Renaissance perspective space and sought to represent objects from multiple viewpoints.

Cezanne's influence. Cezanne's conviction that impressionism excluded qualities of Western painting prompted his desire to "make of impressionism something solid like the art of the museums." He sought to re-create nature with color, feeling that drawing was a consequence of color.

Key figures. Picasso and Braque were the leaders of cubism, with other artists including Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes, and Jean Metzinger. Cubism spread rapidly and influenced art movements throughout Europe and the world.

11. Expressionism Conveyed Inner Emotion

I am indebted to Robert Goldwater for reading the manuscript and correcting numerous errors of fact.

Inner meaning. Expressionism sought to express inner meaning through outer form, ranging from expressive realism to abstract expressionism. It was rooted in romanticism and symbolism, emphasizing emotion and intuition.

Van Gogh's passion. Vincent van Gogh's passionate love of mankind and nature led him to use brilliant, unmodulated color to express the innermost secrets of nature's processes. His paintings document supernatural experiences with meticulous brush strokes.

Munch's obsessions. Edvard Munch's paintings explored themes of sickness, death, sexual desire, and woman as innocent child and blood-sucking vampire. His works expressed a sense of inward torment and a vision of the world as a source of fear and anxiety.

12. Fantasy Explored the Irrational and Subconscious

The principal emphasis of this book revolves around this problem of “seeing” modern art.

Irrational and fantastic. Fantasy in art explored the irrational and subconscious, drawing on naive painting, primitivism, dadaism, and surrealism. These movements were descendants of 19th-century romanticism and symbolism.

Redon's dreams. Odilon Redon's paintings were dreams created from amorphous, flowing color. He translated the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Gustave Flaubert into visual experiences, exploring themes of fantasy and the macabre.

Ensor's macabre visions. James Ensor created an individual world of fantastic subjects expressed in dissonant color and palpitating line. His paintings depicted the walking dead, the danse macabre, and a world of inhumanity.

Last updated: February 21, 2025